Supergirl season 5, episode 3 review: Blurred Lines

Lena seems irredeemable, and there are villains at every corner in the latest season of Supergirl. But the Super-friends may be self-imploding all on their own.

In the second episode of Supergirl season five, Lena Luthor (Katie McGrath) turned Eve Teschmacher (Andrea Brooks) into her own personal AI. If that’s not supervillainy, then what is? And Lena continues to dig a deeper hole for herself in the action-packed third episode of the season.

As Kara Danvers/ Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) and James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) enlist Alex Danvers’ (Chyler Leigh) to track down a potential murderer, J’onn J’onzz (David Harewood) and Kelly Olsen (Azie Tesfai) are in for some terrible surprises.

J’onn Finds Out the Truth

The appearance of J’onn’s heretofore unknown brother, Ma’alefa’ak, has thrown him for a loop. After realizing that Mal’s existence was erased from the Green Martians’ memories, J’onn has been searching for the culprit who did this unforgivable thing. In this episode of Supergirl, J’onn asks Nia Nal (Nicole Maines) to use her Dreamer powers to reveal the truth. As expected, J’onn would have been better off not knowing. What’s particularly striking about J’onn’s character arc over the past few seasons has been his dogged determination to uphold the values of his culture. For that reason, it’s almost disheartening for him to learn the truth about what happened to Mal because this could very well affect J’onn as a person.

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It’s easy to forget that J’onn has been alive for centuries and that some of his and the Green Martians’ past actions would come across as archaic nowadays. The treatment of young Mal is particularly distressing to see in this episode, as it harks back to an ancient practice among many cultures around the world. Children who didn’t quite fit in were removed from society instead of being afforded the support that they rightfully deserved. Will the showrunners consider delving further into how this ill-treatment informed Mal’s later decisions? Yes, Mal is definitely evil, but there are layers to this character that deserve to be explored.

What’s Up with William Day?

Staz Nair’s William Day has been a thorn in Kara’s side ever since he was employed at CatCo this season. Short of being a serial mansplainer, Day has pretty much embodied every worst aspect of being a male colleague. But in this episode, his shady dealings take a much darker turn. He seems to be tangentially involved in the death of a successful medical professional and tries his hardest to stop Kara from investigating the story. So what is this character’s deal?

The end of the episode hints at Day being part of something much bigger, and it immediately begs the question of who exactly is pulling his strings. He’s Andrea Rojas’ right-hand man at CatCo, and we already know she has villainous tendencies towards Supergirl and her Super-friends. Does this mean that CatCo is essentially being run into the ground by a bunch of bad guys? That wouldn’t be a surprise. If powerful forces are out to take over Earth this season, then starting by shutting down the freedom of speech is most likely their first step in the takeover. This may not be the show’s most overt political reflection on real life, but at least the showrunners are still attempting to address daily issues, such as restrictions on press freedoms, through the show.

Lena, You are Going Down a Path We Can’t Follow

Ever since Lena arrived on Supergirl, it’s been hard not to love her. She has always been earnest, intelligent and desperate to remove herself from her family’s reputation. It’s disappointing that the showrunners decided to let her embrace that aspect of her history in this season. Irrespective of Lena’s canonical comic book story arcs, the character on the show had grown into a completely different being who deserved better characterization this season.

What is even more painful to watch is Kara’s obvious love for her friend. She cannot see straight when it comes to Lena, and Lena is using that love to manipulate Kara. The best part of this show has always been the bonds between the characters, and Lena and Kara’s relationship has been an astounding representation of female friendship. To see that turned on its head is probably the darkest part of the season so far.

Three episodes in and Lena has made every supervillain move one can expect, but one can’t help but worry about how far she will go. Will we see the character succeed in her attempt to eradicate duplicitous behaviour in human beings? Does that mean we’ll lose yet another main character next season? Episode three is a fount of questions rather than answers.

Super Sentiments

• Great to see Nia back in action as a hero, but her romance with Querl Dox (Jesse Rath) continues to be the focus on the show. Considering how obtuse Brainy has been over the past several episodes, there could already be trouble in this paradise.
• Kelly is the epitome of “good guys come last.” She’s such a big-hearted person that she’s easily drawn in by Ma’alefa’ak in disguise. While it’s understandable that Kelly is upset that her kindness was exploited, the Super-friends, especially Alex, should have supported her instead of agreeing that Kelly was in the wrong.
• It’s hilarious that Kara and Alex pointed out how often they break the law to save the world. But the conversation should have gone deeper, especially considering that Brainy was hacking a secure system for Kara to write an article, and Kara was planning to break into a government facility to help Lena. There’s a thin line between personal and heroic acts of breaking the law, and this team may have crossed it.
• Who, or what, was that shadowy creature that appeared near the end of the episode? It was obviously trying to keep a lid on Leviathan’s existence, but how? It seems like they have eyes and ears everywhere.
• Seeing Guardian in action, heroically backing up Supergirl, never ceases to amaze. The show is able to do right by the concept of a team, without putting Kara on the back burner. They should have worked harder on that aspect in earlier seasons, then perhaps Mehcad Brooks would not be leaving.

There was so much to unpack in this episode of Supergirl but, somehow, the creative team makes all the disparate storylines work together. The character interactions and arcs seamlessly flow together, making the season a stunning joy to watch. Though one still misses the no-nonsense political statements that the show made during season four, the show continues to be an arresting depiction of superheroes and their humanity.